The Next Duels
by shukuchi
Summary: Ruka returns to Ohtori (yes, he's alive) and finds himself caught in a struggle between Dios and Akio. There will be Juri-Ruka coupling later.


The Next Duels By shukuchi  
  
Lots of POV shifting at first, but it'll get more solid later. This is my first fanfic so don't be too harsh but do review! Oh yeah, it'll end up being a Juri-Ruka fanfic and really long. Okay, maybe just have a lot of chapters but still. Dedicated to Raven Aorla, a great writer and friend.  
  
I gazed into his sapphire eyes and allowed myself to acknowledge it: he is the one I will spend my life with.  
  
Then his face turned mocking, and I remembered: I hate him and this is a dream. In real life, he is dead.  
  
For me.  
  
(Ruka's POV)  
  
Ohtori is the same as before, only different in the ways any place changes in a year. There is the same underlying tension among those who will compete for "the power of miracles."  
  
I wonder where Juri is.  
  
The obvious option is in the fencing club building, so I stroll over and in.  
  
Then stop.  
  
And turn back.  
  
Saiongi gazes at me with curiosity in his arrogant eyes. But it wasn't him I saw standing there a moment ago.  
  
It was Dios.  
  
(Saiongi's POV)  
  
Well, I never expected Ruka, of all people, to be here. After all, with these rumors of him dead from some heart disease, what should I think? So I ask him flat out.  
  
"Why are you out of the hospital?"  
  
He seems slightly.amused? -at my choice of words. "It turns out that my condition isn't so bad. They're not even sure how I got into that coma."  
  
He puts a slight emphasis on the word "coma", as though to say in his perpetually bored voice, "No, I didn't die." That's something a lot of girls are starting to notice, and I see him strutting off to flirt with them where it won't block the fencing club entrance. I'm surprised at his consideration. He never cared before.  
  
(Juri's POV)  
  
I lean down onto Akio's desk casually. He's not nearly so cocky ever since he got some real competition that didn't come with long rose hair and an easily seducible body.  
  
"Your next duel will be tomorrow at five. I don't know who it will be, but caution is the best policy. Oh, and don't lose. You're the most reliable person on our team." On that last sentence, he sounded too sugary to be stating a fact.  
  
Slowly, I move into a near-crouch with my upper body on his desk, secretly delighting at how easy it is to sexually provoke him, while he needs me too much to try anything. I won't be tricked like Utena was.  
  
My face forms a snarl, and my expression and posture show why I was awarded the nickname "the beautiful leopard." I give my words time to form before they leave my mouth in an earthquake. "Like there's any way I'd lose to one of them. I do not wish to be thrown into a world where my only options are to be a princess or a witch, especially since I know which I'd choose."  
  
I calmly stroll out before starting to wonder about the thoughts I had. Shiori has influenced me too much.  
  
(Miki's POV)  
  
I snuggle into the piano room as though it were a warm bed in the cold night. It smells faintly of roses as I sit down on the piano bench. The musty warmth, combined with the rest of the atmosphere, seems to scream Anthy's name into my head with every heartbeat. I miss her with an aching pain that only dulls here and when he is with me.  
  
Dios informed me in his soft, soothing voice that a new duelist would be coming today. He said I'd recognize them. Who?  
  
The door to the piano room opens and I stifle a groan as I glance up, expecting to see Kozue. But it isn't him. It's. Ruka?  
  
(Ruka's POV)  
  
Must I explain to everyone that I'm not dead? I have my own theories about why, considering what I've been told about Utena's last duel. Maybe I'm also some unlucky prince who disappeared from the world of Ohtori after fulfilling his duties.  
  
At least, that's what I told Miki yesterday. Gullible little mouse that he is, I think he actually believed me. But I got some amusing information out of him in return for my boast.  
  
Apparently, Utena's final duel, along with removing her and the rose bride from the school, freed that memory of Dios from the castle. Now him and Akio are recruiting duelists to fight their battles for them because, altogether, those two only have one body. Which I believe to be what they're fighting about. Somehow, I've ended up on Dios's team by default, though I suppose that having him loose in the world is much better than leaving Akio around.  
  
My first duel is tomorrow. I hope I won't have to disillusion more people about my death.  
  
I stride into the elevator (why anyone would call it a gondola, a boat is beyond me) and watch the sky go past. It feels like an "eternity" since I last dueled.  
  
The elevator disappears as I come to the arena. The castle looks like less of a fairy tale and, instead, more like a skeletal cage of bleached bones with torn skin barely stretching across it. Completely like the cloudless sky below, here a storm is brewing and seems like it could come to a boil at any moment.  
  
Across from me, Juri stands in cold shadow like a roman statue. Her curls blow in the chilling wind to cover that face I've wished to see, only to find her a pawn to the chairman once again.  
  
My face melts into blank arrogance and if my eyes are dark, it is merely the light. "Ah, Juri, how nice to see you again. I never expected to be the one unsure about the dueling rules, but I'm sure you can. guide me through it."  
  
She doesn't respond, and instead turns to look at something beyond the arena. The only ray of light forcing itself through the clouds illuminates the porcelain face that covers years of wishing and the fiery hair. She is an angel.  
  
A misty, cool wind blows past her, all fog draining out of it into the form of a man. Behind me, I feel a warmer breeze blowing, and I turn back to see Dios. No shadows dare to touch him, and in his glow he is like a star in the night sky.  
  
His voice has the pitch of youth and the tone of knowledge pounding down like a giant hammer as he says, "It's time for the duelists to draw our swords." He glances at me expectantly and I realize that this will be my first time wielding the Sword of Dios. I did win once, but I collapsed and had to be hauled to the hospital before I could test it out.  
  
I slowly put an arm around the fragile prince and feel him lean back. Soon it becomes apparent that it isn't a sword I'm drawing, it's him. His edges blur and fade as he's sucked into the sword, until the last of him vanishes into the tip. Glancing up, I see that Juri has only a sword as well.  
  
Two roses, grayed by the light, fall from the castle and the wind blows one over to each of us. I put mine on as Juri does the same, and the duel begins.  
  
She has doubtlessly improved. I'm starting to have trouble parrying her strikes! However, the duel is won already, as I move into a slight crouch and push myself off the ground. Somewhere in all that, gravity disappears, and I fly towards Juri, straight to the rose. I barely move my sword aside, and her rose is slammed off even as I slam into her. The duel is over.  
  
As I go back down, I'm stunned. If I hadn't snapped myself out of it enough to move, I know that I'd have killed her on that sword. That was Dios's legendary lunge that helped Utena win? It never seemed so brutal before.  
  
From the ground in the forrest, I can see two silver towers beside the dueling arena. The castle rumbles and slides a bit closer to one. I don't understand what's happening, and leave the forest in a rush.  
  
Shukuchi!  
  
The next chapter will focus more on character development. It's already written, but not typed, so expect some update in the next few weeks. I can't do fight scenes! 


End file.
